


Dream a Little Dream of Me

by SkyWasMadeofAmethyst



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Awkward Flirting, Comfort, Crushes, F/M, Fluff, Nightmares, admission of feelings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-17
Updated: 2018-03-17
Packaged: 2019-04-01 11:59:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13997859
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SkyWasMadeofAmethyst/pseuds/SkyWasMadeofAmethyst
Summary: Dan falls asleep at the Grump Space after crashing from exhaustion. A nightmare leads to an interesting conversation between you and him.





	Dream a Little Dream of Me

**Author's Note:**

> Based on another request I received on Tumblr.

Dan maybe wasn’t getting the best nights rest lately. He knew that his crazy busy schedule wasn’t entirely to blame for his lack of rest, not this time around at least.

Dan was accustomed to powering through his days when he was exhausted. He’d worked passed burning out before. He had gone without sleep far longer than any human being probably should.

He was nearing his breaking point though. If he was being honest with himself he would admit that he’d already passed his breaking point a long time ago and was now grasping onto consciousness by a thin frayed thread.

This was probably why Dan found himself lying flat on his back on a couch in the Grump Space snoring through his lunch break.

This was how you found Dan. The last thing you’d expected to find as you returned from picking up everyone’s lunch.

It had been your turn to pick up lunch. It was Friday and everyone had recently discovered a little Poke Bowl joint not far from the office. Suzy and you had made a habit of ordering from the place every Friday these past few weeks. Arin and Dan usually joined in, Dan recently having had Poke for the very first time.

You hadn’t thought much of it when Dan hadn’t been around for you to take his lunch order. You had figured he’d probably just wandered off to his favorite Thai place. You had assumed that he was probably sick and tired of Poke by now.

You had never expected to enter the recording space to find Dan snoring away fast asleep.

Your first instinct was to back out of the room and flip the overhead lights back off. The poor guy had seemed pretty drained lately. He probably needed to catch up on his sleep.

You could admit as the days had gone on and you had noticed just how exhausted Dan was you had been tempted to gently suggest that maybe he should try taking a nap during the day. You knew though that it wasn’t your place to make any kind of suggestion to him.

You weren’t his boss after all. Arin was the boss, but part of you was sure that Dan might not even listen to Arin if he told Dan to go home and get some rest.

Dan’s tendency to be somewhat stubborn had quickly become apparent to you. His stubbornness wasn’t a negative trait. If anything, Dan’s stubborn nature was just a side effect of his tendency to throw his heart and his soul into his work. He was driven, determined to work hard for what he wanted no matter the cost.

It was an admirable trait; having that much determination. Most people didn’t have that kind of passion for their work.

You had come to realize in your time here that Dan didn’t get nearly enough rest. He worked himself to the point of exhaustion. He would work himself sick and then keep on going.

No, you hadn’t really known Dan for a long time, only for the past year you’d been working here, but still you hadn’t been able to shake the feeling of concern when you spotted the dark circles under Dan’s eyes and the stifled yawns that left his lips.

You knew you were probably being a total creep as you found yourself unable to leave the room. Your feet were figuratively glued to the floor as you studied Dan’s sleeping form.

He looked almost cute when he was sleeping…okay he always looked cute, but there was a certain adorable charm to his sleeping form.

His lips were slightly parted the tip of his tongue peeking out. His arms were raised above his head he clearly having fallen asleep in a lounging position. His legs were bent at a somewhat awkward angle. The sofa he was resting on was too short for his long body, so one leg was bent resting off the side of the couch and the other leg was propped up on the arm of the sofa hanging off the edge.

He looked peaceful. He almost seemed younger, maybe it was just that he was so relaxed? His resting form was free of tension and the cloud of exhaustion that had seemed to hang over his head as of lately. He looked so tranquil.

You snapped out of your moment of admiration ready to flip off the light switch and leave the room before anyone caught you staring like a creeper.

Suzy had already begun to tease you about the obvious crush you’d so clearly developed on Dan. Arin had been quick to join in too. They had been pushing you to make a move on him, but you had held back.

Dan probably wouldn’t have any interest in you, you told yourself. You probably weren’t his type. You weren’t the tall voluptuous blonde type he’d mentioned having a weakness for once or twice. You were a little on the shorter side and you didn’t think you were the type to turn heads no matter how adorable Suzy and Arin insisted you were.

You had convinced yourself it was best to just ignore any little romantic notions your heart might have stricken up for Dan Avidan. He would reject you so it was best to just ignore the way his smile made your heart beat too quickly.

You stopped in your tracks not having a chance to leave the room as you heard a distinct pained whimper.

Your brow furrowed as Dan let out another whimper his face twisting into a grimace.

You hesitantly stepped closer to the sofa as Dan continued to whine the crumpled look not fading from his features.

“No…stop. Please…no.” The words spilled from Dan’s lips the pleas sounding so pitiful.

He began to twist in place as though he was attempting to fight off some invisible assailant.

Your hand moved on its own accord your touch to Dan’s chest gentle your voice soothing as you attempted to pull him out of his nightmare. “Hey, Dan…it’s okay…. come on Danny. It’s okay wake up.”

Dan continued to twist in place his face still contorted. The words came again still sounding so distressed. “No…Stop it. No, please, no.”

You spoke again your hand hesitantly moving up to smooth back Dan’s hair your voice soothing. “It’s just a nightmare. Come on Danny, wake up. It’s only a bad dream. You’re okay. Nothing is going to hurt you. Wake up, it’s all okay.”

Dan’s brow furrowed the familiar voice so different from the horrifying visions and sounds flickering through his brain. The voice was so gentle so sweet. He couldn’t help but to feel secure hearing it.

His eyes snapped open his cheeks quickly flushing as he realized just who this sweet gentle voice belonged to. He couldn’t help but to mentally kick himself.

Awesome, let the new coworker he’d been harboring a big fat crush on be the one to wake him while he was a whimpering mess. He was sure he was so attractive to you right now, his brain taunted him. What better way to seduce [Y/N] than by letting her see what a giant wimp he was.

Your own cheeks flushed as you suddenly realized you still had a hand resting on his mess of curls. You yanked your hand back as though the touch of his fro had burned you. You clasped your hands in your lap hoping that the touch hadn’t invaded his privacy.

He’d just sounded so terrible. You had only been trying to comfort him. You knew though that the touch might have been pushing things too far. It was probably a far too intimate action for a friend.

Dan scrambled upwards turning to sit on the sofa his cheeks still bright pink the horror he’d felt from his dream quickly being replaced with mortification.

He spoke his voice raising a few octaves as he turned his gaze from you almost hoping that if you couldn’t lock eyes with him then maybe he’d disappear. Disappearing sounded pretty good right now, anything to escape how embarrassed he felt. “I’m sorry.”

“I’m the one who should be apologizing….I shouldn’t have woken you…I mean…I shouldn’t have even walked in on you sleeping….I should have just shut off the lights and left you to sleep.” You stated stumbling over your words.

What if he thought you were a weirdo? He probably was totally weirded out. You had been watching him sleep like some kind of nutball stalker.

“It’s okay…I mean, I was having a stupid nightmare. I’m kind of glad you woke me.” Dan admitted his eyes turning to you.

He felt a little bad feeling so relieved that you seemed just as flustered by the situation as him.

He spoke again not helping but to want to soothe your shame. You had no reason to be embarrassed. You had been so kind, so comforting. He had to admit he’d soaked up your touch and your sympathetic words like a sponge. “You have nothing to apologize for….like I said, I’m glad you woke me.”

Dan cleared his throat quick to speak again wanting to fill the somewhat awkward silence before his mind had a chance to taunt him for letting the girl he’d been admiring see him be such a wretched mess. “I probably drank too much coffee before I laid down. My brain does weird things when it gets the wrong food before I lie down…. You should see me when I have ice cream too late at night before bed. I’m a bigger disaster than I was just a second ago.”

“You aren’t a disaster…I mean. Lots of people have nightmares.” You attempted to soothe him as you hesitantly stood up and took a seat on the sofa beside him.

You felt your cheeks flush realizing just how close you were sitting by one another. The sofa was so tiny that there wasn’t much space to have any real room between Dan and you.

Dan stared down at his lap noticing the closeness as well. He could smell the scent of your lotion and your perfume; an intoxicating mix of spearmint, eucalyptus, and coconut.

He felt like such a creep to admit it, but he liked the way you smelled. He almost wanted to drown in the scent. Yes, he was perfectly aware that he had a massive pathetic crush on you. Arin and Brian had both pointed out a long time ago.

He cleared his throat shrugging his shoulders as he tried to explain the reasoning behind his dream. “I guess I should have known better than to go see that stupid horror movie with Ross and Barry.”

“Doesn’t Barry hate horror films?” You asked not noticing the little flash of jealousy in Dan’s eyes at the mention of Barry.

Barry and you had developed a close friendship though Barry had recently left the Grumps to pursue his own projects. As hard as Dan tried to shake it he couldn’t help but to feel that little green monster clawing at his heart anytime Barry and you hung out together.

Dan knew he had no right to feel jealous. You weren’t his girlfriend, and he hadn’t gotten the balls to ask you out on a date or give any real inclination that he saw you as anything other than a friend. Sure, he had flirted a lot, but that probably wasn’t enough of a hint of his feelings for you. So, you had the right to hang out with Barry as much as you wanted.

“He does…so do I. Ross talked us into it though. He promised we’d go to that sub shop I like. You know the one?” Dan provided a small smile crossing your lips.

“Yeah, Mr. Subs…the place with the really good turkey melts.” You replied already aware that Dan loved the place.

He loved sandwiches and had admitted that even if he somehow ever developed the ability to cook a legitimate meal without burning it, that he’d still go for a good turkey sandwich any day of the week.

“What was the horror movie about?” You asked not helping but to be curious. You wanted to smack yourself for asking.

He’d just had what had clearly been a traumatic dream and here you were asking for the details of what had probably caused it.

Dan tried not to cringe as he answered you. “Some gory slasher flick… I kind of tuned out when things started to get stabby.”

You tried not to chuckle at the term stabby.

You spoke up wanting so badly to soothe Dan. “If it makes you feel any better I don’t like the gory crap either…It doesn’t like…give me nightmares or anything, but it’s still gross….my sister had bad nightmares when we were growing up…she would sleepwalk too. I’m kind of a boring sleeper I guess.”

“I get sleep paralysis sometimes…I wish I was a boring sleeper…. I usually sleep on my side…my right side. For some reason I don’t have shitty dreams when I sleep in that position. I was so damn tired though. I just meant to close my eyes for a second and I was out.” Dan remarked relieved that you weren’t criticizing him for his inability to handle horror films.

Usually people would roll their eyes and point out that it was just a dumb movie and that he was being stupid to be so freaked out by it.

He guessed he should have known that this wouldn’t be your reaction though. You were too sweet to tell him he was a giant coward.

“You need to get some rest…You work too hard. It’s a little worrying how hard you work Danny. You deserve to take it easy sometime.” You pointed out the words spilling from your lips without any thought.

Dan’s heart began to flutter at your comment. You worried about him. You noticed that he didn’t get enough sleep and it worried you. “I get restless when I’m not working on a project. I’ve worked so hard to find some smidge of success…I’m kind of used to working my ass off. It feels weird to just take it easy for too long.”

You gave him a small smile trying to ignore that little hint of awe that always developed in your heart when you noticed just how relentlessly hard working he was. “You deserve a break though Dan…I mean you work really hard…like insanely hard. You burn yourself out and keep going. You should totally just take a personal day sometime.”

You paused hating the words that left your lips, but you tried to ignore the way your heart hurt to say it. You were trying to be encouraging. “Take some cute girl out for a date or something…have some fun.”

Dan felt a small smile creep up along his features. He bit his tongue holding back announcing that you were the only cute girl he wanted to take out on a date. “I don’t have that much time for cute girls….my last date was a disaster. She was…she was more interested in the YouTube thing than me.”

You frowned a hint of rage threating to spill from you. You took a deep breath reminding yourself that you couldn’t very well freak out over some idiot girl being so shitty to Dan. You spoke rolling your eyes. “Then she was a moron. You’re a great catch Danny. You deserve someone great. If anyone treats you like you deserve less then you should kick them to the curb. You deserve a nice girl and a nice day off.”

Dan took a deep breath the words leaving his lips despite the more sensible part of his brain telling him to shut up. “Maybe I could take a day off this weekend…There’s this new exhibit at the Natural History Museum I’ve been wanting to check out…Do you think you might want to come with me…be the nice girl to my nice day off.”

You widened your eyes almost falling off the couch as the shock of Dan’s question hitting you. He was asking you out. Was he asking you on a date?

Dan took your silence as the rejection his shoulders sagging as he tried not to pout. You had the right to turn him down. He should have known better than to ask you. A girl like you didn’t go for a guy like him. “I’m…I’m sorry, that was probably weird I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable or anythi….”

He didn’t have a chance to say anything else as you leaned in taking a risk. You pressed your lips to his cheek the kiss lingering past anything that would be considered just a friendly kiss on the cheek from a friend.

You spoke interrupting his apology. “I would love to go Dan. That sounds really nice.”

Dan felt his cheeks flush as it hit him that you were actually saying yes. You hadn’t rejected him. 

 

He was tempted to turn and press a kiss to your lips, but he held back. The first kiss could wait until the end of the date.

Dan smiled not helping but to celebrate internally. He was pretty sure he might come across as being a bit too cocky if he stood up and openly danced. You had a date, you were going on a date with him tomorrow.

Maybe he should take naps in the Grump Space more often?


End file.
